High Blood Pressure For Dummies

✍ Scribed by Richard Snyder

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2024
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 275
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Maintain healthy blood pressure with timeless wisdom and new breakthroughs in prevention and treatment

High Blood Pressure For Dummies explains all you need to know about blood pressure―and what to do when it gets too high. High blood pressure can lead to serious complications, but with lifestyle changes and medication, it’s easily treatable. This jargon-free, compassionate book walks you through the necessary changes to help lower blood pressure and live a healthy life. You’ll be well equipped to determine if you’re at risk and consider the medical consequences of hypertension. From there, develop a successful treatment plan and choose the right foods for you. With this Dummies guide, you can learn to prioritize you and your health.

• Learn what hypertension is, what causes it, and how it can be prevented and treated
• Improve your quality of life and live longer by focusing on a healthy blood pressure
• Understand your doctor’s recommendations and discover diet and lifestyle factors that you can control
• Find out about new research on hypertension causes, treatments, and genetic influences

This new edition of High Blood Pressure For Dummies is great for people with high blood pressure, their caregivers, and anyone with a family history who wants to better understand the condition.

✦ Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1 Understanding High Blood Pressure
Chapter 1 Introducing High Blood Pressure
Understanding Your Cardiovascular System
Measuring Your Blood Pressure and Understanding the Measurement
Looking at the Risk Factors for High Blood Pressure
Focusing on the Consequences of High Blood Pressure
Lowering High Blood Pressure with Different Treatments
Evaluating High Blood Pressure in Children, Women, and Older People
Chapter 2 Detecting High Blood Pressure
Looking at the Gauge Used to Measure Blood Pressure
Taking Your Blood Pressure Correctly
Understanding the Numbers
Lowering Blood Pressure Too Much
Getting the Right Assessment
Reviewing your history
Having a physical exam
Looking at lab tests
Chapter 3 Determining Whether You’re at Risk
Reviewing Important Aspects of High Blood Pressure
Understanding the effect of genetics
Estimating the effects of ethnicity
Seeing how medication can affect blood pressure
Changing Your Lifestyle to Prevent High Blood Pressure
Chapter 4 Reviewing the Causes of Resistant High Blood Pressure
Identifying the Signs and Symptoms of Resistant High Blood Pressure
Considering Chronic Kidney Disease and High Blood Pressure
Navigating Narrowed Renal Arteries
Diagnosing renal artery stenosis
Treating blocked renal arteries
Homing in on Hormones That Cause Hypertension
Finding an epinephrine-producing tumor
Treating a pheochromocytoma
Detecting a tumor that produces aldosterone
Diagnosing primary hyperaldosteronism
Treating primary hyperaldosteronism
Recognizing Cushing’s syndrome
Diagnosing Cushing’s syndrome
Treating Cushing’s syndrome
Evaluating Other Causes of Resistant High Blood Pressure
Coarctation of the aorta
Too much or too little thyroid hormone
Sleep apnea
Part 2 Considering the Medical Consequences of High Blood Pressure
Chapter 5 Protecting Your Heart from Heart Disease
Introducing the Mighty Heart: Pumping and Relaxing
Blocking Blood Flow to the Heart Muscle
Analyzing Coronary Artery Disease
Understanding angina and heart attack
Stable angina
Unstable angina
Heart attack
Getting a diagnosis
Considering treatment options
Medication and lifestyle modifications
Angioplasty
Bypass surgery
Developing Congestive Heart Failure
Noticing important signs and symptoms
Understanding what your doctor will look for
Determining the underlying cause of heart failure
Decreasing pump function
Being unable to chill out and relax
Treating congestive heart failure
Recognizing and Treating Important Risk Factors
Reducing high cholesterol
Quitting smoking
Controlling diabetes
Stepping up physical activity
Chapter 6 Caring for Your Kidneys
Examining the Role of Your Kidneys
Filtering
Making hormones
Understanding Chronic Kidney Disease and Common Causes
Defining chronic kidney disease
Diagnosing chronic kidney disease
Staging and treating chronic kidney disease
Coping with End-Stage Renal Disease
Dialysis
Peritoneal dialysis
Hemodialysis
Kidney transplant
Chapter 7 Keeping Your Brain Intact
Understanding the Causes of Strokes
Atherosclerosis
Cerebral embolus
Brain hemorrhage
Preventing Stroke
Understanding the risk factors you can’t change
Modifying the risk factors you can
Reducing stroke risk with medications
Thinking F.A.S.T. When Suspecting a Stroke
Utilizing Brain Imaging
Understanding Treatment Options for Stroke
Recovering from a Stroke
Regaining function
Working with rehabilitation specialists
Chapter 8 Eyeing Your Blood Pressure
Eyeballing the Anatomy of the Eye
Getting Hyper about Hypertensive Retinopathy
Part 3 Preventing and Treating High Blood Pressure
Chapter 9 Choosing Foods That Lower High Blood Pressure
DASHing Down Your Blood Pressure
Leading up to DASH
Proving the value of DASH
Getting with the program
Specific foods and servings
Sample menus
Helpful hints and resources
Reducing your salt consumption with DASH
Maximizing the Mediterranean Diet to Lower Your Blood Pressure
Seeing the Value of a Plant-Based Diet Plan
Losing Weight with Nutrition
Calculating your ideal weight
Determining your daily caloric needs
Adjusting your DASH nutrition plan
Consulting with a Nutritionist
Chapter 10 Keeping Salt and Sugar Out of Your Diet
Making the Connection between Salt and High Blood Pressure
Proving the connection between sodium and high blood pressure
Looking at salt sensitivity
Lowering your salt intake
Reading food labels
Avoiding high-salt foods
Going on a low-salt diet
Connecting Sugar and High Blood Pressure: The Role of Insulin
Chapter 11 Avoiding Tobacco, Alcohol, and Caffeine
Playing with Fire: Tobacco and High Blood Pressure
Examining the extent of the problem
Understanding the consequences of tobacco use
Reducing your exposure to secondhand smoke
Avoiding all forms of tobacco
Quitting tobacco successfully
Keys to quitting
Effective methods of quitting
Tapping into resources
Linking Alcohol to High Blood Pressure
Cutting Back on Caffeine
Knowing how much is too much
Considering caffeine’s health consequences
Recognizing the gains in giving up caffeine
Avoiding the beans, chocolate, energy drinks, and soda
Chapter 12 Lowering Blood Pressure with Exercise
Recognizing the Benefits of Exercise
Preparing to Begin an Exercise Program
Getting a checkup
Personalizing your exercise program
Walking for exercise
Choosing other aerobic activities
Using the right equipment
Exercising to Lose Weight
Exercising to Gain Strength
Lowering Your Blood Pressure with Complementary Therapies
Yoga
Meditation
Biofeedback
Chapter 13 Taking Medications to Lower Your Blood Pressure
Examining Classes of Blood Pressure Medications
Diuretics: Medications that reduce fluid buildup
Thiazide and thiazide-like diuretics
Loop diuretics
Potassium-sparing diuretics
Aldosterone-antagonist diuretics
Other first-line medications
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors
Angiotensin II receptor blockers
Calcium channel blockers
Medications that act on the nervous system
Methyldopa
Clonidine
Beta-adrenergic receptor blockers
Alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists
Vasodilators: Medications that open the blood vessels
Hydralazine
Minoxidil
Choosing the Right Medication
Reviewing basic principles of medication dosing
Personalizing the medication choice
Selecting another medication when necessary
Adhering to the medication prescription
Recognizing Common Medication Side Effects
Identifying Brand Names
Chapter 14 Considering Important Clinical Studies of High Blood Pressure
SPRINT: Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial
STEP: Strategy of Blood Pressure Intervention in the Elderly Hypertensive Patients
ACCORD: Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes
ADVANCE: Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease
Part 4 Taking Care of Special Populations
Chapter 15 Handling High Blood Pressure in Older Adults
Evaluating Cognitive Ability
Assessing Blood Pressure in an Older Person
Recognizing baseline high blood pressure
Considering resistant high blood pressure
Examining the medications that raise blood pressure
Improving Nutrition to Lower Blood Pressure
Assessing your nutritional status
Following the DASH nutrition plan
Reducing salt intake
Modifying Your Lifestyle to Lower Blood Pressure
Taking Prescription Medications to Lower Blood Pressure
Avoiding Dangerous Falls in Blood Pressure
Chapter 16 Handling High Blood Pressure in Children
Measuring Blood Pressure and Interpreting the Results
Taking a blood pressure reading on tiny arms
Interpreting the results of the measurement
Considering the Causes of Elevated Blood Pressure
Surveying hereditary influences
Factoring in weight
Evaluating other possible causes
Initiating Treatment with Lifestyle Changes
Using Medications
Chapter 17 Treating High Blood Pressure in Women
Connecting High Blood Pressure and Salt Sensitivity in Women
Understanding High Blood Pressure and Pregnancy
Knowing what causes high blood pressure during pregnancy
Chronic high blood pressure
Gestational hypertension
Preeclampsia
Dealing with eclampsia
Dealing with high blood pressure after delivery
Using Hormone Treatments If You Have High Blood Pressure
Oral contraceptives
Hormone replacement therapy
Part 5 The Part of Tens
Chapter 18 Ten Simple Ways to Prevent or Reduce High Blood Pressure
Know Your Blood Pressure
Know Whether You Have Resistant High Blood Pressure
Adopt the DASH Diet
Cut Out the Caffeine
Reduce the Amount of Salt in Your Diet
Give Up Tobacco and Alcohol
Start an Exercise Program
Practice Mind-Body Techniques
Take Your Medication
Avoid Medications That Raise Blood Pressure
Chapter 19 Ten (or So) Myths about High Blood Pressure
High Blood Pressure Is Inevitable as You Get Older
The Treatment Is Worse Than the Disease
You Must Restrict Your Life Because You Have High Blood Pressure
You Only Need Treatment If You Have High Systolic Blood Pressure
If You Have High Blood Pressure, You’ll Have to Take Medication Forever
You Can Stop Treatment after a Heart Attack or Stroke
You Should Avoid Exercise If You Have High Blood Pressure
If You’re Feeling Good, You Can Stop Taking Your Blood Pressure Meds
High Blood Pressure Can’t Be Controlled
People with High Blood Pressure Are Just Nervous or Anxious
Older People Don’t Need to Be Treated
High Blood Pressure Is Less Dangerous in Women
Appendix Resources
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Kidney Foundation
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
American Heart and Stroke Associations
National Library of Medicine
MedlinePlus
PubMed
The Mayo Clinic
American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Index
EULA